The Croatian government on Monday decided to additionally reduce excise taxes on oil products - by an additional 0.40 kuna per litre for petrol, which amounts to a total excise cut of 0.80 kuna, and by an additional 0.20 kuna for diesel, which amounts to a total cut of 0.40 kuna.

The government also cut by an additional 0.10 kuna the margin of traders in oil products for petrol, diesel, and blue-dyed diesel.

The decision was made as part of changes to the government regulation on excise taxes on energy products and electricity and the regulation on determining the highest retail prices of oil products to alleviate the impact of growing fuel prices on citizens, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at a news conference.

“The total cut in excise taxes is from 3.86 to 3.06 kuna per litre for petrol and from 3.06 to 2.66 kuna per litre for diesel, that is, a total of 0.80 kuna and 0.40 kuna respectively,” Plenkovic said, adding that there was no excise tax on blue-dyed diesel.

The PM noted that the amended regulations would be applied as of this Wednesday, and that the excise tax regulation would be in force for the next month, after which the government would reassess the situation.

Plenkovic noted that the regulations additionally restricted the margin for producers and distributors, by 0.10 kuna.

The margin for petrol and diesel would be cut from 0.75 to 0.65 kuna per litre while the margin for blue-dyed diesel would be reduced from 0.50 to 0.40 kuna.

The government made the latest decision as the regulations that have been in force since the first half of March, capping margins and excise taxes on oil products, are about to expire in the coming days.

Currently most petrol stations in the country sell Eurosuper 95 at 13.86 kuna per litre, while a litre of Eurodisel costs 14.08 kuna.

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)